She went limp and slid down into the car seat as they sped out of the city. “So why didn’t the FBI just warn me?” she asked, her throat suddenly hot and tight.
“Because, for now, that’s all they could do. They don’t have enough manpower to provide round-the-clock surveillance for everyone in my family, and you, as well. And I’m not convinced that just watching and waiting is the answer.”
She cast him a dubious glance. “So what is?”
“We’re going to disappear for a while.”
She could feel her anger swell again. But a voice from somewhere inside whispered that maybe, this once, his efforts to protect her might be justified. Even if kidnapping seemed a bit extreme.
“You said we. You’re staying with me?”
He nodded.
“What about your work?”
“My laptop’s in the trunk. All I need is a phone line to plug into. I’ll retrieve my office e-mail and I can handle anything critical from a remote location.”
“And my job?”
“Holly was able to track down your current employer. I’ve already called and left a message that you’re sick and will be out for a few days.”
“My family might worry.”
“I have their blessing, per Dennis.”
She sighed. “Sounds like you’ve thought of everything.”
“I try.” She could hear a note of satisfaction in his voice. The consummate manager.
Katherine couldn’t help letting out a frustrated shriek.
“What?” he said.
“No matter what I do, I just can’t seem to get my life running in a direction I want it to go.”
He turned his head to look at her as he took an exit off the highway through a low-country glade. “A lot of people feel that way. Believe me, I don’t want to take away your freedom, Katherine. I never wanted that. After this is over, if you never want to see me again, I’ll respect your wishes. But I can’t let them hurt you. It’s because of me you’ve become a target.”
She looked deeply into his eyes and could see that he meant what he’d said. It wasn’t power over her that he wanted. He was all about doing the honorable thing. He saw her, for the moment, as his responsibility. He cared what happened to her. It was that simple.
“All right,” she said, finally letting down her defenses, “so where are we disappearing to?”
Tybee Island wasn’t far from the glamorous city of Savannah. But there were pockets of secluded marshland and cottages off the beaten track taken by locals and tourists headed for Tybee’s popular beaches. It would be difficult to find a person who didn’t wish to be found, even if someone knew that’s where they were headed. Besides, the cartel was looking for someone named Katie O’Brien, and she was safely in London—making Ian and Katherine’s job of disappearing that much easier.
The cabin, as Ian remembered it from a rare hunting excursion with his father, was a rustic, one-room affair, kept well-stocked with food and spare clothing on the chance one of the boys would drop in for a weekend of duck hunting. The key, Ian knew, would be under the porch.
Ian led Katherine down a grassy hillside to an inlet off the bay, patches of water glistening in the sun where cattails and sea grasses hadn’t filled in. A canoe had been pulled up onto the shore—an invitation to explore this watery world. An elegant great blue heron stood, matchstick-thin legs deep in brackish water, stoically eyeing the rippling surface for signs of prey—a slow-swimming minnow, a careless frog.
Katherine froze, watching the immense bird, her expression absorbed.
Ian stepped closer to her. “Are you all right?”
“Better than all right,” she murmured. “This is beautiful.” She turned to face him. “You can kidnap me anytime.”
He guessed she didn’t mean anything by it, just a comment to break the last strands of tension between them. But something about the way she leaned a little closer to him tugged at his heartstrings, and he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her head. He was ready to release her the instant she objected. She didn’t.
When she looked up at him, her eyes were brimming with emotion. He couldn’t help himself. He kissed her deeply, long and hard.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered.
“Me, too.” She shook her head then pressed her cheek to his chest. “I wish this were simpler.”
“The complications over the cartel?”
“No, us.”
His heart stopped, then kicked into high gear. Was there a chance? What was she trying to tell him? He swallowed, sensing that every word he spoke now was important. Desperately he searched for the right ones.
“Maybe we’ve made things more difficult than they need to be.”
“You think?” Her eyes shone, liquid emeralds.
“Maybe.” He kissed the bridge of her nose, her forehead, an auburn curl that toppled over it. “I’m sorry I’ve handled things so autocratically. I don’t mean to do that—boss you around, make decisions for you. It’s just that it’s my father’s way. As much as I hated him pulling rank while I was growing up, I suppose I’ve inherited some of his tactics. I never intended to hurt you, or rob you of your independence.”
She thought for a moment. “I suppose that’s the way it is in my family, too.”
“How’s that?”
She shrugged, wrapping her arms around him to pull him even closer, although they were already chest to chest. “The men see it as their duty to protect their women. And we women either succumb to the paternal order, or rebel. I’m one of those who had to rebel.”
He chuckled, giving her a squeeze. “So I’ve discovered.”
Katherine turned her head to one side so that she wouldn’t have to pull away to see his face. “Ian?”
“Yes.”
“Is there still room for compromise?”
“With your family?”
“With us.”
He felt as if he’d been holding his breath for days. No, weeks. Knowing Katherine Fortune was like watching a movie, trying to guess the ending, and always being surprised no matter how many times you saw the film. She kept changing the last scene!
Perhaps every couple faced a moment in their relationship when an invisible line was drawn by fate. Words were said, mistakes made. Once you crossed over, you could never cross back. He had let her down in ways he hadn’t understood but were vital to her.
But now…now he wondered about second chances.
Slowly he lifted her chin and gazed into her misty green eyes. “I was terrified you’d never let me get close to you again.”
She smiled and, incongruously, tears spilled over. “I was terrified I wouldn’t have the strength to walk away from you, if you couldn’t see clear to letting me be me.”
His heart leaped with new hope. She was opening a door for him. He lifted her fingertips to his lips. “If you weren’t you, I wouldn’t love you.” And he saw something wonderful light up in her eyes.
“Let’s talk. Really talk,” she whispered.
Eleven
The hard parts they handled out on the water. Gliding across the smooth surface of a cove, sheltered by tall cattails and ancient cypress, they paddled the canoe and emptied their souls. Out in the middle of the marsh it was impossible for either one of them to walk away in a heated moment.
Katherine knelt up front with her paddle, while Ian sat in the carved-out seat behind her with his. At first the coordination of paddling was as tricky as maneuvering through the pitfalls of their conversation. Sometimes she wanted to move the sleek yellow hull in one direction, and he paddled at a different angle, so that they ended up at a destination neither of them had intended.
And sometimes their discussions sank to the level of frustrated paddle slapping on the water, resulting in wet clothing, tears, or pauses to hold each other, kiss and reassure.
They agreed on one rule. Silence wasn’t an option. They must keep talking, keep on sharing whatever they felt or needed or believed in. After the thi
rd day of navigating through each other’s emotional highs and lows, and the mazelike brine marsh, they discovered they agreed more often than disagreed.
And they made love whenever they liked, which was often. In the morning before a breakfast of French toast, maple syrup and spicy sausages. In the afternoon following hours of rowing, counting swans, geese and birds neither could identify. At night to the accompanying gentle hoots of owls.
Katherine and Ian made love. They healed. They became one.
On their fifth day in the Tybee Island cabin, Ian sat on the edge of their bed and retrieved messages from his office. When he shut off his cell phone and turned to face Katherine, he was smiling. “The FBI picked up the two men who were shadowing you. They were illegal aliens from Colombia and are being deported.” She gave an exultant shriek, and he took her in his arms and fell back against the pillows. “It’s safe to go home,” he said.
Yet she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to Savannah. Why leave paradise? Except that the real world couldn’t be put off forever. “Back to my job at the bank,” she murmured, and looked up at him.
“Unless you’d rather come back to Danforth’s,” he said.
“In a heartbeat!” she cried, then thought about all they’d discussed. “I agree with you, though, I’m not sure it’s best that I continue working as your EA.”
He looked relieved. “You’re good with people.”
“Yes.” This was something she’d only recently learned, and it pleased her, this talent she hadn’t known was hers.
“You like Holly?” he asked.
“I do, and she’s been really nice to me.”
“Think you could work with her?”
Katherine pushed herself up out of the nest of bed-clothes to look at him. “You mean, in Personnel? She’d be my boss?”
“How do you feel about that?” It was a phrase he was learning to use more often in their conversations.
“I like it. I didn’t know there was an opening.”
“Holly left me an update on job openings. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’d have to stay there forever. It’s a good entry-level position that might prepare you for supervisory jobs, and eventually an executive position, if that’s what you want.”
She grinned. “I’ll take it!”
“I’ll call and tell Holly it’s filled then.”
“Speaking of filling…” she said, wiggling her bottom into an inviting portion of his anatomy.
He rolled his eyes dramatically. “My work is never done.”
“Shut up and just—” Kiss me, she thought, as he covered her mouth with his. And in a moment he was right where she wanted him.
The next day they returned to Savannah. The car was packed by ten in the morning, and Katie closed the door of the little cabin with a reluctant sigh.
“Mixed feelings?” Ian asked.
“I’m looking forward to my new job, but I’ll miss this little place.”
“We can come back,” he offered. “As often as you like.” He seemed to hesitate. “There’s one more thing I have to do before we leave.” His expression was serious, and her nerves prickled in warning.
“Yes?”
Instead of responding, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin, round object, then he was down on one knee in the grass before her. Her heart stopped. Her mouth went dry.
“I know you said our difference in age doesn’t matter,” he began with endearing awkwardness. “And I know you’re still a little worried about marriage, but if I promise I’ll never stop you from doing anything your heart tells you to do, but stand by you when you need me…will you please marry me, Katherine Anne Fortune?”
She looked down at her finger as he slipped on the ring. She expected to see the flash of a diamond, even though a plain, unadorned band of gold would have been enough. She frowned at the ring, then at him.
“It’s grass.”
“No jewelry store in the glade.” He looked sheepish, embarrassed, then worried. “I made it myself. I know you have strong feelings about a lot of things, and long ago I decided that when I asked you to marry me, I’d wait to let you choose your ring. This is to hold that place on your finger for me.”
She touched the simple braid of reeds he’d fashioned for her and was deeply, profoundly touched. “I’m not sure anything else would be as wonderful as this,” she said.
“If you can’t say yes to me now—if you need more time to think…I know you said you loved me, but if…”
The man who had cut billion-dollar deals was a nervous wreck. She’d be sadistic to make him wait for an answer.
“I’m going to keep on asking, Katherine, until you’re ready. I’ll wait as long as you need—”
She quieted him with a kiss. “I love you. I want to be with you. I want to be your wife.”
“You do?”
“I do…now, about the wedding.”
“We’ll keep it small,” he said quickly, guessing she’d want it that way.
“With two families like the Fortunes and the Danforths? No way. Big church wedding. Enormous cake.”
“Delicate white tiers,” he said.
“Chocolate!” she countered.
“A string quartet.”
“Full orchestra.” She grinned.
“Whatever!” He stood up, sweeping her into his arms and spinning around and around with joy until she was dizzy and begged him to stop. “You said you wanted children. How about two?”
“No fewer than four, I think.” She laughed at his look of happy surprise. “Did I tell you twins run in my family?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised at anything you tell me, Katherine dear. I have a feeling, you’ll keep me guessing for a very long time.”
Oh, she thought, this is going to be good. Very good indeed.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5739-3
THE BOSS MAN’S FORTUNE
Copyright © 2004 by Harlequin books S.A.
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The Boss Man's Fortune (Dynasties: The Danforths Book 5) Page 15
